From the Nobel prize for medicine to the future Lighting Design in interiors: when colour matters

Abstract

The 2017 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine was awarded to American scientists Jeffrey C. Hall, Michael Rosbash and Michael W. Young for their 1980s research into the molecular and genetic mechanisms controlling the circadian rhythm. This news, which went almost unnoticed in the design field, actually has very important implications regarding the evolution of interior lighting design, with particular reference to colour. In this article we highlight the elements of the relationship between lighting and colours, hoping for a new approach to interior design in the future. Many research has been done on the psychology of colours and on colour preferences, if we instead evaluate the effect of colour, with the scientific method, from the physiological point of view, there are researches that focus on the spectral distribution of light that reaches the eyes, but they ignore the effect of interior colours on the light that actually reaches our eyes in daily life. This element of multidisciplinary thinking can pave the way for much design research in the field of colour, also because this could be important for our health.